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<em>George Cornell Abert</em> was born on 21 July 1912 to Caroline (Ulrich) and James Abert in Syracuse, New York. Upon his death in Winter Park, Florida on 11 July 1970, he effectively brought to an end a line of Academy graduates extending from Cullum number 71 to his own number, 11319.</p>
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When George arrived at West Point on 2 July 1938 he entered a new world, totally different from the Fayettteville, New York of his high school years or the Hamilton, New York where he spent two years at Colgate and was seen by Colgate’s Andy Kerr as a good half-back prospect.</p>
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Beast Barracks didn’t take his mind off football, although somewhere along the line he realized that “the swell fraternity houses” he had seen his first morning walking from the Thayer Hotel to Central Area were, in fact, officers’ quarters. Naturally, when fall came, George turned out for plebe football, happy to be back in an environment he was familiar with.</p>
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He soon realized that he must choose between football and West Point, and although it was a painful decision, he made the right choice and gave up football. It hadn’t been easy to go from all first sections to all last sections, as, indeed, many things about George’s life were not easy, but one of his characteristics was to complete a job he started. Many people in his later life came to appreciate this.</p>
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From his initial assignment with the 26th Infantry at Plattsburg Barracks, New York, he went to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii (then TH), but not before his marriage on 17 October 1939 to Marjorie Joan Ryan. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Marge was evacuated to the States and George began the long route to victory in the Pacific.</p>
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An assignment with the post quartermaster pointed out his career path, and when he left Hawaii with the 24th Division in July 1943, it was with the rank of major and as assistant division quartermaster. In June 1944 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and remained as division quartermaster until his return to the States in March 1945.</p>
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In the Class of 1938 25th Anniversary yearbook, he reported having been in the Central and Southwest Pacific Campaigns, a much-abbreviated statement of his participation in the landings at Hollandia and Leyte, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.</p>
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His first postwar assignment saw George in the Office of the Quartermaster General, where he became chief of the Petroleum Branch of the Fuels and Lubricants Division. On the home front, Marge presented him with George, Jr. in December 1945. Back at the Pentagon, George served on the War Department General Staff until being sent to the Ordnance School in 1952, and then to Austria, where he reported “three grand years in Salzburg” before being returned to the States to attend the Army War College. After a tour as commanding officer at the Sioux Ordnance Depot, he returned to Washington to complete a total of nine years there, the last two as inspector general in the Office of the Chief of Ordnance. Two years with the Army Overseas Supply Agency and two with the Missile Command at Red Stone Arsenal wound up his Army career with the Legion of Merit and retirement in 1966 as a bird colonel.</p>
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In our 25th Anniversary yearbook George listed fishing and hunting as favorite occupations. To this one could add investing in the stock market; in all three he was properly successful, with fishing perhaps his favorite. Official records make no mention of the occasion when he dared to exonerate a fellow officer who had been castigated for doing his duty; official records are silent about much that this conscientious, dedicated soldier did to be helpful to others, but friends well remember. We wish we could share our memories with wife and son who both have joined him in the next life, and we ask his indulgence in accepting this inadequate tribute to a worthy son of the Long Gray Line.</p>